Film News: Assessing the Golden Globe Nominations 2011

As the awards season approaches, movie makers across the world will be scanning all the film reviews and articles to get some sort of sense of what they can expect to be up for. This month, one of the first big ceremonies of 2011 unveiled its list of nominations.

The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards takes place on January 16th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles and will bring together the cream of the film and television industry for a glamorous celebration of achievement ahead of the year’s BAFTA and Oscar presentations in February.

In the Best Drama category, there are five heavyweights hoping to take home a trophy on the night with Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The King’s Speech and The Social Network all receiving a nomination. Best Comedy or Musical could go to either Alice In Wonderland, Burlesque, The Kids Are Alright or The Tourist and the Best Animated section will be an equally tough call for the experts. While outsiders like Disney’s Tangled and Django Films’ The Illusionist are certainly in with a chance, they will have to take on Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon, Universal’s Despicable Me and Pixar’s blockbuster, Toy Story 3.

The Fighter and The Social Network could well have a great night, as they are both nominated in six different categories, while Darren Aranofsky’s Black Swan has a shot at four different prizes. However, perhaps the biggest surprise is that is a British film that is leading the charge with an incredible seven nominations. The King’s Speech, which stars Colin Firth as a stammering King George VI trying to overcome his affliction, is listed as a contender for Best Drama, Director, Original Score, Actor, Supporting Actor and Actress, and Screenplay. The movie has already scooped five British Independent Film Awards, a Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award and has multiple nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, Satellite, Independent, and Broadcast Film Critics’ Award associations.

Unfortunately, although the movie debuted at The London Film Festival in October 2011, Brits will have to wait until January 7th before they can see The King’s Speech in cinemas across the UK and judge for themselves. Luckily though, film trailers for all the flicks listed above are already online to make that all important viewing decision just a little easier. So regardless of which ones do the best business and excite the critics, you’ll be able to see well in advance which ones are most deserving of your attention.